As the House Education and the Workforce Committee prepares to mark up HR 5 on February 11th, continuing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act reauthorization process, a diverse coalition of 536 local, state and national organizations has sent a letter to the House Education Committee urging them to maintain the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) initiative as a separate and specific federal funding stream for school and community partnerships to support students in grades Pre-K through 12 during the hours outside of the school day. The groups, representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and including 61 leading national organizations, wrote in support of quality afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs that provide 1.6 million young people annually with the academic, social and emotional learning opportunities they need to be successful in school and in life.

The letter seeks to preserve 21st CCLC even as HR 5 would consolidate 65 federal education programs, including 21st CCLC, creating instead a block grant that would consequently de-emphasize support for afterschool and summer learning programs. The letter sent this week, signed by positive youth development organizations, STEM groups, education organizations, physical activity and health associations, anti-hunger groups and more, is just one of many recent efforts in the past several weeks aimed at protecting dedicated 21st CCLC federal funding for afterschool and summer learning programs that serve as a platform to make a difference in the lives of children. Among the other efforts undertaken by groups seeking to protect 21st CCLC:

The Coalition for Community Schools, in a letter signed by more than 40 organizations, included 21st CCLC afterschool and summer learning funding as one of several key priorities that should be included in ESEA reauthorization.

Advocates have taken to Twitter using the hashtags #Invest3to6 and #Save21st to raise awareness and help protect valuable afterschool and summer learning programs.

Friends of afterschool can take action here to join more than 1,200 parents, young people and educators who have already reached out to their Senators and Representatives in the past month in support of federal 21st CCLC funding for afterschool and summer learning programs. Take a moment to tweet your support to your representatives!

House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee Chairman Todd Rokita (R-IN) introduced the Student Success Act (H.R. 5) today, which would reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Based on a proposal passed by the House of Representatives in 2013, H.R. 5 focuses on giving more control over federal education dollars to local and state education agencies. The legislation consolidates more than 65 programs, including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative (21st CCLC), into a Local Academic Flexible Grant designed to help schools support students.

The elimination of targeted spending for before school, afterschool and summer learning has the potential to be devastating to programs across the country, and it is possible that the new grant structure will not provide any resources to students outside the school day. These students are at risk of being unsupervised after the school bell rings and losing valuable learning opportunities that help them succeed academically, as well as losing access to a host of additional resources including nutritious meals, physical activity, STEM learning and access to mentors.

Currently, support for afterschool, before school and summer learning programs in ESEA is provided through the 21st CCLC initiative, which has ensured quality academic, enrichment and learning supports for more than one and a half million students per year over the past decade. The Kline bill proposes to consolidate 21st CCLC and replaces it with a new Local Academic Flexible Grant that provides funds to states and school districts to support initiatives that increase student achievement based on their own priorities.

The House Education and Workforce Committee is expected to mark up H.R. 5 as soon as next week, and committee officials suggest the bill could reach the House floor for a vote by the end of February. Committee Ranking Member Bobby Scott (D-VA) issued a statement questioning the rushed timeline and the direction of the majority’s bill, and announcing a forum to discuss ESEA later this week.

Given the proposed timeline, it is important that members of Congress see a strong showing of support from afterschool advocates across the country. Your Representatives and Senators want to hear from you! Take action now by urging your elected officials to consider the value of dedicated funding for afterschool and summer learning programs through 21st CCLC. Share personal examples or experiences that illustrate the importance of these out-of-school programs for enhancing learning, keeping young people safe and helping working families.

On February 2, President Obama released his budget request for the upcoming 2016 fiscal year, which begins this October. The president requested $1.152 billion for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) —reflecting the same funding level as the current 2015 fiscal year. Unlike his previous budget requests, the president’s proposal appears to keep 21st CCLC as a formula grant that flows to state education agencies, with states holding a competitive grant process at the state level. The proposal from previous years to turn 21st CCLC into a national competitive grant competition is not included in the proposal this year. However, as in past years, the budget proposal does propose using 21st CCLC grant funding for new purposes including adding time to the traditional school day or year, and for teacher planning and professional development. The budget proposal comes as ESEA reauthorization efforts in the Senate HELP Committee seek to eliminate 21st CCLC.

In a challenging budget environment in which many programs face consolidation or elimination, the proposed level funding for 21st CCLC in the budget request demonstrates the importance and value of afterschool and summer learning programs. Yet, we know that even with this strong support, more than 11 million students remain unsupervised after school and the parents of almost 20 million students would like their children to be in programs but they are unavailable, unaffordable or both.

The Afterschool Alliance supports 21st CCLC funds being directed to high-quality afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs that focus on hands-on, engaged learning that complements and enhances but does not replicate the traditional school day. While not mentioned in the president’s Budget book, the Afterschool Alliance feels strongly that 21st CCLC funding should continue to support the partnerships between schools and community- and faith-based organizations that help children improve academically, socially and behaviorally while parents are at work. For more information on expanded learning, see our Expanded Learning resource page.

Additional Education Department funding that supports afterschool and summer learning includes $15.4 billion for Title I grants—an increase of $1 billion— and includes $150 million for Promise Neighborhoods, to provide additional awards to local partnerships that meet the cradle-to-career, educational, health, and social services needs of children and families in high-poverty communities. The Department of Education’s Budget Summary is online.

Other budget news of note for the afterschool community:

The budget includes a new Equity and Outcomes pilot for up to ten participating Title I schools and districts. Applicants would demonstrate a commitment to equitably distributing local, state, and federal funding—and, in turn, would have more flexibility when using Title I and other federal funds to support school districts’ comprehensive plans to improve student achievement.

National Service

The budget requests $1.18 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The funding level would support a record-high 90,150 AmeriCorps members, including summer positions for disconnected youth, new positions for retired Americans, and additional public-private partnerships to create more opportunities for Americans to serve. The Corporation’s AmeriCorps and VISTA programs help support afterschool programs.

Child Care Development Fund (CCDF)

The president’s budget makes a historic investment in early childhood education by providing an additional $82 billion over ten years in mandatory funding for the Child Care and Development Fund to ensure that all low-income working families with children ages three or younger have access to quality, affordable child care. This investment will increase the total number of children served to more than 2.6 million, reaching more than 1.1 million additional children, and ensuring that the youngest children from the most vulnerable communities are in high quality settings where they are safe and ready to learn. The budget also provides a $266 million increase in discretionary funding in 2016 to help states implement the policies required by the new bipartisan child care law and improve the safety and quality of care while giving parents the information they need to make good choices about their child care providers.

Community Service Block Grant (CSBG)

The budget maintains funding for the Community Services Block Grant at $674 million. This is a change from recent Administration budgets that proposed reductions to CSBG. Under the budget, the Upward Mobility Project would allow up to 10 communities, states, or consortia of states and communities to combine funds from up to four existing block grants— CSBG, Social Services Block Grant, and funding from HUD through the Community Development Block Grant and HOME Programs—for efforts to promote opportunity and reduce poverty.

Informal STEM Learning

Across departments and agencies, the president’s budget includes a total of $3 billion for STEM education a 3.6 percent increase over 2015 enacted levels. In addition to increases for the popular Math and Science Partnerships and Investing in Innovation grant programs, $125 million is allocated to a competitive grant program to establish Next Generation High Schools focused on STEM. On the informal STEM side, $60 million is directed to the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal Science Learning program and $5 million to the Smithsonian Institution to improve their reach in STEM learning. Funds are included for the continuation of the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences STEM and ‘making’ programs for you and the STEM AmeriCorps VISTA program. NASA’s Office of Education receives $89 million and the Science Mission Directorate receives $20 million to make their programs and materials more accessible.

Take Action

The president’s budget request now goes to Congress, where budget and appropriations deliberations for FY2016 are getting underway. House and Senate Appropriations Committees are holding hearings this winter to hear details of the education budget request from Secretary Duncan. Friends of afterschool programs can contact their Members of Congress to express support for 21st CCLC and federal funding for afterschool programs.

Today a broad coalition of 266 local, state and national organizations urged the Senate HELP Committee to maintain the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) initiative as a separate and specific federal funding stream for school and community partnerships to support students in grades Pre-K through 12 during the hours outside of the school day. Quality afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs provide young people with the academic, social and emotional learning opportunities they need to be successful in school and in life.

Organizations ranging from the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) and the Food Research and Action Center, to the American Heart Association and the National Education Association, all came together on the letter because of the broad value of afterschool and summer learning programs as a platform to make a difference in the lives of children. Whether it is inspiring girls to pursue a STEM career or providing a venue to offer a nutritious meal and vigorous physical activity, comprehensive afterschool programs funded by 21st CCLC since 2001 positively impact more than 1 million school-age children each year. The letter comes in response to Senate HELP Committee Chairman Alexander’s discussion draft ESEA bill, which would eliminate 21st CCLC and replace it with a block grant that could be used for afterschool and summer learning or a variety of in-school student supports.

The full text of the letter along with signing organizations including groups from 35 states and more than 50 leading national organizations can be viewed here and follows below. Maximize the impact by emailing your Senators and urging them to support 21st CCLC—take action now!

As Congress prepares to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the below signed 266 organizations urge you to maintain the 21st Century Community Learning Center (21st CCLC) initiative as a separate and specific federal funding stream for school and community partnerships to support students in grades Pre-K through 12 during the hours outside of the school day. The undersigned local, state and national organizations strongly support maintaining and strengthening 21st CCLC to provide the next generation of before-school, afterschool and summer learning programs that keep young people safe, inspire them to learn and support working families.

For more than 15 years 21st CCLC has leveraged school and community partnerships to help millions of low-income children become engaged in their academic studies, while sparking new interests in a wide variety of topics from the sciences to theater. Authorized in Title IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the 21st CCLC initiative provides students attending high-poverty schools with academic enrichment activities; a broad array of additional services designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program, such as: hands on experiments to excite children about science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), access to physical activity, drug and violence prevention programs, formal and informal mentoring, counseling programs, art, music, opportunities to be creative and technology education programs; as well as literacy and related educational development services to the families of children who are served in the program.

A decade of research proves the wide-ranging impacts of quality afterschool and summer learning programs:

Studies have shown that quality programs give students the academic, social and career-ready skills they need to succeed. Students who regularly attend programs have better grades and behavior in school; better peer relations and emotional well-being; and lower incidences of drug-use, violence and unintended pregnancy.

Research in 2011 and 2012 from several state education agencies found that teachers report that students regularly participating in 21st Century Community Learning Centers show improvements in homework completion, class participation, attendance, behavior in class, and reading and math achievement scores and grades (American Institutes for Research, 2011 & 2013; Evers, 2012).

A separate 2013 study out of the University of California, Irvine’s School of Education found that regular participation in afterschool programs helped to narrow the achievement gap between high-income and low-income students in math, improved academic and behavioral outcomes, and reduced school absences (Pierce, Auger & Vandell, 2013).

More than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher-income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. As a result, low-income youth are less likely to graduate from high school or enter college (Alexander et al, 2007). 21st CCLC supports low-income children during the summer as well as before-school and afterschool during the school year.

Now is the time to step up support for students during the time when they are not supported by school or family, the hours after school when 11.3 million children are unsupervised and juvenile crime and other inappropriate activities peak. The unmet demand for afterschool programs has steadily risen over the last 10 years to approximately 19.4 million children (41 percent) in 2014 that are not currently in an afterschool program but would be enrolled in a program if one were available to them, according to their parents (America After 3PM, 2014). Eliminating the dedicated 21st CCLC funding stream would mean most, if not all, of the funding currently supporting 1.6 million students in afterschool and summer programs is at risk of being redirected to other purposes.

Afterschool and summer learning programs can be essential partners to community schools and provide an infrastructure to bring in other resources to our children including access to mentors, tutors, nutritious snacks and meals, and in some places medical, dental and mental health programs. For-profits, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations (CBOs), tribal organizations, non-profits, charter schools, local governments, colleges and universities and others currently serve as critical partners and lead organizations under 21st CCLC and help foster the broad positive results the program has yielded. Afterschool STEM programs play an important role in developing workforce skills and preparing a diverse range of young people to access higher education and jobs in these fields that are critical to the economic well-being of the nation. The ability of quality programs to leverage state, local and private resources, offer professional development and training to staff, and achieve desired outcomes around student success will be lost given the broadening of the funding stream and competing provisions.

We ask that the ESEA reauthorization process be used as an opportunity to maintain and strengthen 21st CCLC to enhance the quality of federally funded afterschool and summer learning programs; better emphasize science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), 21st century skills, creation and support of evidence-based mentoring relationships for children and physical activity and nutrition education; improve the manner in which the 21st CCLC initiative is evaluated; and strengthen the school-community partnerships that are the hallmark of quality afterschool and summer learning programs.

With the Elementary and Secondary Education Action (ESEA) reauthorization process underway in the Senate HELP Committee, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Shelly Moore-Capito (R-WV) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced their bipartisan Afterschool for America’s Children Act in the Senate today. The Afterschool for America’s Children Act legislation reauthorizes the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative and builds on past afterschool and summer learning program success. The bill was introduced this week in the wake of a proposal to eliminate 21st CCLC through ESEA.

The bill:

Strengthens school-community partnerships to include sharing of data and resources, the ability to better leverage relationships within the community and provide an intentional alignment with the school day.

Promotes professional development and training of afterschool program staff.

Encourages innovative new ways to engage students in learning that looks different from a traditional school day, with an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning; science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM); and physical activity and nutrition education. Supports approaches that focus on individualized learning that provide a variety of ways for students to master core skills and knowledge.

Provides accountability measures that are connected to college- and career-readiness goals and show student progress over time towards meeting indicators of student success including school attendance, grades and on-time grade level advancement.

Increases quality and accountability through parent engagement, better alignment with state learning objectives and coordination between federal, state and local agencies.

Does not prioritize any one model of expanded learning opportunities over another.

Maintains formula grants to states that then distribute funds to local school-community partnerships through a competitive grant process.

The bill was introduced in the 113th Congress as S. 326, signifying the hours from 3PM to 6PM when young people need access to quality afterschool programs that keep them safe and inspire learning. Among the groups registering support for the bill in the 113th Congress were the Afterschool Alliance, After-School All-Stars, American Camp Association, American Heart Association, A World Fit For Kids, Champions, Harlem RBI, National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Collaboration for Youth, Save the Children and the United States Tennis Association.

In addition to these organizations, it’s important that Congress see a strong showing of support from afterschool advocates across the country. Your senators want to hear from you! Take action now by urging your senators to sign on as co-sponsors to support the next generation of afterschool, before-school and summer learning programs that are re-engaging children in their education and future. Share personal examples or experiences that illustrate the importance of these out-of-school programs for enhancing learning, keeping kids safe and helping working families.

Last night, President Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address to a Congress that for the first time in his presidency is controlled by Republicans in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Key highlights of the speech included tax proposals that would boost middle-class families and a new approach to immigration and a push for free education at community colleges. Several elements of the speech are of interest to friends of afterschool, including new tax incentives for child care and a focus on community colleges.

The president proposed streamlining child care tax incentivesto give middle-class families with young children a tax cut of up to $3,000 per child. The president’s proposal would streamline and dramatically expand child care tax benefits, potentially helping 5.1 million families cover child care costs for 6.7 million children. The proposal follows up on recent legislation and some new investments to improve child care quality, access, and affordability for working families. The current average child care tax benefit of $550 falls short of the cost of child care, including the cost of quality school-age afterschool and summer care. According to supplemental material from the Department of Health and Human Services, the president’s proposal would:

Triple the maximum Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) for families with children under 5, increasing it to $3,000 per child. Under the president’s proposal, families with young children could claim a 50 percent credit for up to $6,000 of expenses per child under 5 – covering up to half the cost of child care for preschool-age children.

Make the full credit available to most middle-class families. Under current law, almost no families qualify for the maximum CDCTC. The president’s proposal would make the maximum credit – for young children, older children, and elderly or disabled dependents – available to families with incomes up to $120,000, meaning that most middle-class families could easily determine how much help they can get. This could significantly benefit families struggling to afford quality school-age afterschool and summer care for their children.

Eliminate complex child care flexible spending accounts and reinvest the savings in the improved CDCTC. The president’s proposal would replace the current system of complex and duplicative incentives with one generous and simple child care tax benefit.

Additionally, and as first highlighted by a statement from the National AfterSchool Association, President Obama's proposal to leverage the power of community colleges to build American workers’ education and skills provides an opportunity for those working in the afterschool profession. As National AfterSchool Association (NAA) President and CEO Gina Warner stated yesterday, “If this proposal were to come to fruition it could result in the professionalism of the entire field of afterschool and youth development. Expansion of existing community college degree and credential programs will present credible and affordable career opportunities for the nearly 700,000 people who work in our field.”

Want more details or insider insight into yesterday's speech? The White House has announced that officials will be taking questions online today. Find out how to participate in today's online events, then log onto Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr and ask your questions using the hashtag #AskTheWH.

As we previewed earlier this week, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization process officially kicked off late on Tuesday night with the release of Senate HELP Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander’s (R-TN) staff discussion draft reauthorization bill. The proposed “Every Child Ready for College or Career Act of 2015” would replace the 2001 No Child Left Behind law and seeks to increases flexibility for states under a reduced federal footprint. The proposed bill offers two approaches to annual testing requirements, makes teacher evaluation through test scores optional and eliminates a range of existing programs including the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) initiative that currently provides afterschool and summer learning programs to more than 1.6 million students.

Separately on Wednesday, Senate HELP Committee Ranking Member Patty Murray (D-WA) and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan responded to the Chairman’s draft by expressing serious concern with a number of provisions. The tentative process moving forward includes a number of discussion sessions giving Senate HELP Committee members’ staff an opportunity to fully understand the 400-page bill, followed by negotiations to determine the legislation that will be marked up in the Senate HELP Committee likely during the middle of next month. An ESEA bill could be debated on the Senate floor as early as this spring or summer.

Of utmost concern to parents, student, providers and friends of afterschool and summer learning programs is the proposed elimination of 21st CCLC, presently the only federal program dedicated to proving students in grades pre-K through 12 with quality enrichment, academic programming and a wide range of student support during the hours when school is out, including afterschool, weekends, holidays and over the summer.

Senator Alexander’s proposed draft ESEA bill repurposes existing 21st CCLC funding to create a suggested Safe and Healthy Student Block Grant within Title IV of the law that would allow local education agencies (LEAs) to fund a wide variety of student supports during the school day, or fund afterschool, before school, or summer learning programs when school is out, all with the goal of improving students' safety, health, well-being and academic achievement. The proposed draft also allows LEAs to fund afterschool, summer learning, and additional expanded learning programs for students through a Title II block grant aimed at Improving Student Academic Achievement.

The Afterschool Alliance is concerned with Senator Alexander’s proposed draft ESEA bill and instead recommends reauthorization of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers within the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Without a separate funding stream specifically targeting learning outside the school day, essential learning opportunities that are helping more than 1.5 million young people better prepare for college, careers and life will disappear.

Friends of afterschool and summer learning programs are encouraged to reach out to Senators to explain the value and importance of maintaining separate federal funding for programs that support young people when school is out. A fact sheet and action alert can be accessed to help send the message to Congress that afterschool is not an extra, but instead essential to the success of children in school and in life. A list of current members of the Senate HELP Committee and House Education and the Workforce Committee is available as well.

The following summarizes key elements of both the Improving Student Academic Achievement (Title II) and Safe and Healthy Students (Title IV) block grants within Senator Alexander’s proposed draft ESEA bill:

Improving Student Academic Achievement Block Grant (Title II)

Goal of Title II: to improve student academic achievement by—(1) increasing the capacity of local educational agencies, schools, teachers, principals, and other school leaders to provide a well-rounded and complete education for all students; (2) improving the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other school leaders; (3) increasing the number of teachers, principals, and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools; and (4) ensuring that low-income and minority students are served by effective teachers, principals, and other school leaders and have access to a high-quality instructional program.

This is a block grant that flows by formula from the federal Department of Education to State Education Agencies, and then by formula to LEAs

LEA grant applications are based largely on the results of a needs assessment in consultation with school personnel, parents, community-based organizations and other stakeholders to determine the schools with the greatest staffing needs.

Funding is targeted to low-income students and schools that serve low-income students.

The Block Grant would provide funds to LEAs but there is a role for non-profit community based organizations to provide input and be partners in implementing programs.

Among the allowable uses for funds: “providing programs that support extended learning opportunities, including before and after school programs, summer school programs, and programs that extend the school day, school week, or school year calendar.”

Goal of this title: to improve students' safety, health, well-being and academic achievement during and after the school day.

This is a block grant that flows by formula from the federal Department of Education to State Education Agencies, and then by formula to LEAs

LEA grant applications are based largely on the results of a needs assessment in consultation with school personnel, parents, community-based organizations, local governments and other stakeholders to determine the level of drug use, violent behavior, and the mental and physical health of students.

Funding is targeted to low-income students and schools that serve low-income students.

The Block Grant would provide funds to LEAs but there is a role for non-profit community based organizations to provide input and be partners in implementing programs.

Title IV allowable uses include funding for “before and after school programs and activities, including during summer recess periods.”

Other allowable uses include activities to be provided during the school day including drug and violence prevention programs; school based mental health services; emergency intervention after traumatic events; staff training on suicide prevention; mentoring programs; school counselling; healthy active lifestyle/wellness; positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS).

The proposed bill authorizes $1.6 billion for this Title IV block grant.

Two additional items of note from the proposed bill:

The draft legislation allows 100 percent transferability between Title II and Title IV block grants: LEA can use all of Title II and Title IV allocations for one or the other or a combination of both.

The draft bill removes afterschool as an allowable use from the McKinney Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act and replaces with ‘local education programs.’

2015 has only just begun but Congress is already into its second week and legislative priorities are emerging for the year ahead. The 114th Congress convened last week with Republicans controlling both the House (246 Republicans to 188 Democrats, 1 vacancy) and the Senate (54 Republicans to 44 Democrats, with 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats) as a result of the 2014 midterm elections. What does the 114th Congress have in store that could impact afterschool and summer learning programs? Plenty.

ESEA Reauthorization

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act(ESEA) includes two critical funding and policy supports for afterschool and summer learning programs that serve children and families at the community level: the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative (21st CCLC) and the Title I, Part A program. Seven years after it was first due to be reauthorized, the ESEA reauthorization process has new life this Congressional session. New Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) intends to hold a hearing on K-12 education policy the same day as the President’s State of the Union address—January 20. It will be the first in what has been described as a “short series” of hearings on ESEA and this first session will focus on the hotly debated topic of testing. Beyond the series of hearings, Chairman Alexander has set a goal of getting an ESEA bill passed by the Committee before the House and Senate’s February district work period—the week of President’s Day. On the House side, House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN) has also gone on the record saying he would like to see an ESEA bill on the floor of the House of Representatives by the end of March. All indications point to close communication between the two chairmen.

Supporters of afterschool programs will be looking at both House and Senate ESEA proposals to gauge the impact of the legislation on the 11,500 federally-supported, school and community based 21st Century Community Learning Centers, which collectively provide quality programming and engaging enrichment activities to over 1.6 million low-income students. Senators Boxer (D-CA), Murkowski (R-AK) and Murray (D-WA) are expected to reintroduce the Afterschool for America's Children Act, their legislation strengthening 21st CCLC, early this year. Friends of afterschool can weigh in now with their members of Congress on the value of afterschool and summer learning programs.

Child Nutrition Reauthorization

Following close on the heels of ESEA will be the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act, which authorizes the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program in addition to the Summer Food Service Program and CACFP At Risk Afterschool Meals Program. The latter two programs provide millions of nutritious meals to children in afternoon programs throughout the school year and during the summer. While a key issue will be nutrition standards for school lunches, of utmost concern to afterschool advocates will be improving access to meals when school is out of session through improvements to the Afterschool Meals and Summer Food Service Program. Senators Gillibrand (D-NY) and Murkowski’s bipartisan Summer Meals Act introduced last Congress would help streamline the programs while increasing the number of young people eligible to be served. The House Education and the Workforce Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee are both expected to begin scheduling hearings on the Child Nutrition Act this spring.

America COMPETES Act Reauthorization

The 114th Congress could also see the reauthorization of the America COMPETES Act which authorizes the federal government’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs as part of a larger strategy to remain competitive in the global economy. Currently about $3.5 billion is spent on STEM, although not all of that is on K-12 STEM education initiatives. The America COMPETES Act reauthorization process represents an opportunity to provide additional resources and support for informal STEM education and afterschool STEM programming that can inspire young people to pursue STEM careers. The Supporting Afterschool STEM Act introduced in both chambers last Congress would provide needed infrastructure at the state level to increase the number of quality STEM afterschool programs.

Budget and Appropriations Process

In addition to the program and policy reauthorizations mentioned above, the 114th Congress will also tackle fiscal year 2016 budget resolutions and the accompanying appropriations process. After a two year temporary hiatus as a result of the December 2013 agreement between then Budget Committee Chairs Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), the spending caps of the Budget Control Act with the threat of sequester returns this appropriations cycle bringing the possibility of cuts to domestic discretionary spending.

With regard to FY2016 appropriations bills, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committee leaders have expressed their commitment to proceed under regular order. This would mean a process that includes committee hearings, markups, and passage in each chamber followed by a conference agreement for each of the 12 appropriations bills. If this happens, it would be the first time in a number of years. The budget process will likely kick off in early February with the release of the President’s FY16 budget request on February 2. Advocates for afterschool programs should prepare to contact House and Senate budget and appropriations committee members beginning in the spring to make the case for continued federal support of afterschool and summer learning programs.

Use the Afterschool Alliance Policy and Action Center to identify members of Congress, committee members, and to email members.